History of the Hunger Group starting in 1945 in Germany

The Origins of a Success Story

Trade fair in Cairo in 1954

The history of the Hunger Group begins in 1945 in the Saxon town of Frankenberg.

After returning from the war Walter Hunger takes over an old forge. Three years later the then 23-year-old orphan constructs his first hydraulic truck tipping plant. An important component of this was a shock-absorbing strut which he removed from the wreck of an aircraft.

Then things really take off: In the Saxon town of Frankenberg the first employees produce hydraulic pumps, valves and telescopic cylinders, which are then built into trucks and trailers and marketed. Groundbreaking new designs are created, such as the first 8-tonne trailer with brake air tilting mechanism.

A 3-tonne truck is equipped for the first time with a motor hydraulic tipping device.

Horse-drawn carts with rubber tires are produced from the scrap of the Second World War.

At the Leipzig trade fair in 1954 Hunger presented three Hunger tippers and a 40-tonne low loader trailer

Escape from the Clutches of Socialism

Hunger vehicle factories in Frankenberg

The rapid and turbulent rise of the young company is abruptly stopped 10 years later.

In 1957 Walter Hunger enlarges the main factory in Frankenberg, where in the meantime overhead loaders and bulldozers are also produced. In the same year he acquires a factory in Chemnitz, to which the mechanical department, galvanics and construction of the low loaders TL 40 and TL 80 are transferred.

In 1958 he leases a motor vehicle business with a total area of 5,000 m2. But the political direction in which the former GDR is going makes life more and more difficult for the private entre-preneur due to its tighter tax laws and state-controlled distribution.

The threatened socialization of private companies drives Walter Hunger to flee to the West with his family and a few of his employees. Back in the East he leaves behind him factories in Frankenberg, Chemnitz and Leipzig, as well as more than 1,000 employees.

The New Start in Lohr am Main

The new administration building

Building discussions on factory expansion

Walter Hunger is faced with ruin. Together with a few employees who have also fled he makes a new start in the Franconian town of Lohr.

From the very beginning there were plans to work together with a local hydraulics firm. But the negotiations do not result in the hoped-for success and most of the employees who had fled with him decide to leave Walter Hunger.

The mayor at the time, Dr. Nebel, then successfully forged close contacts with the firm Rexroth. In November 1958 Walter Hunger Comp. OHG is founded. Walter Hunger brings his patents and his entire expertise with him. In the first six months Rexroth provides the premises and the money.

On newly acquired land in Rodenbacher Strasse the first production and administration building is erected in 1959. As early as the middle of 1959 production can begin – with success, for very soon the company is one of the top German hydraulic cylinder manufacturers.